Vayyishlach Sermon – 1 & 2 December
Written by Student Rabbi Nicola Feuchtwang — 4 December 2023
One of the best course modules which my classmate Eleanor and I have studied at Leo Baeck College has been the module on ‘Progressive Rabbinic Decision Making’ taught in our 4th year by Rabbi Josh Levy. It encouraged us to reflect on our relationship to Jewish tradition, and to examine carefully the principles behind our thinking. For the assignment (because EVERY module has an assignment!) we had to talk and write about “a question which bothers us”, and discuss some of the texts from Torah and rabbinic literature which touch on our theme.
As some of you know, my ‘big thing’ – which creeps into much of my teaching and in a complicated way will also be part of my final rabbinic dissertation – is: “What should we do about the ‘Curate’s Egg’” – or Can someone or something be part good and part bad – and how should we relate to them or to it?
It cannot have escaped your notice that there was one verse in this morning’s Torah portion which I read rather quickly and in an undertone.[1] It talks about Jacob’s eldest son Reuben sleeping with Bilhah, one of his father’s concubines.
In its context, the meaning of such an action was very clear – it is in effect a brutal statement that ‘Old man, your time is up. I’m taking over as leader’. It is what would-be kings and dictators have often done over the course of history.
Should such a verse be in Torah at all? And should we read it aloud?[2] Not because it is explicitly about sex, but because it recounts shameful disrespecting behaviour towards a family member.
Rabbi Hannah often refers to the ‘icky bits’ in Torah: the laws which seem at odds with the ethical values we now consider important, the stories where the “heroes” are not necessarily the role models we would want for ourselves or the next generation.
Early Progressive Judaism, the Reform and Liberal movements in Europe and North America, tended to omit this verse – and several others, about bad behaviour or curses, from the lectionary, the calendar of recommended readings for each Shabbat and festival, as if to say “this is not our Judaism”.
How should we nowadays deal with people who have been behind important scientific discoveries, or military victories, or setting up charities – and then turn out to have very dark sides to their characters too? This is not a new question; it is one which the rabbis of the Talmud grapple in their time, trying to find a response more nuanced than either “Ignore it” or “Cancel”.
They asked: If one of the great scholars / Sages has sinned, is it still permissible to learn from them? It’s a complicated debate, but their working conclusion is:
- Children should not learn from that scholar.
- In matters relating to their sin – NO (for example, a person who has committed fraud may not teach on financial matters).
- Within limits, it may be appropriate for mature adults to study with them and benefit from their knowledge on other matters.
They quote an earlier discussion about a wrongdoer: ‘Even though he has sinned, he still counts as Israel’[3]
There is another tradition, with which you may be more familiar: the midrash about the yeitser ha-ra, the inclination towards evil, which is present in every one of us. The fable is that when the yeitser was held prisoner for a day, even the hens stopped laying eggs.[4] Without the yeitser ha-ra, the rabbis said, no-one would ever marry or build a house.[5] In other words, they recognised that the very same energy and creative drive which is at the root of some of our greatness, if unchecked, is also the source of our very worst impulses.
What is remarkable about the Jewish tradition, is that we don’t erase or cancel imperfect people from our texts, or for that matter uncomfortable texts from our canon, even if they make us cringe. Our heroes are not saints. Moses had a bad temper, King David was among other unsavoury things an adulterer.
Israel – the name which means one who struggles with God, who can overcome some fears and weak character traits, and become a leader – Israel never ceases also being Jacob, the ‘heel’, who uses his intellect, his cunning, and deceit both for good and less good purposes.
How can we acknowledge the good that a person brings, without condoning, or appearing to applaud the bad.
In keeping with a good rabbinic tradition, my own answer for the time being, is we should not deny that flaws are part of our individual and community make-up. We should be circumspect about how, when, with whom, we discuss them; we should never condone the bad bits.
So my Progressive Jewish decision for this morning, was not to omit Reuben’s behaviour– but also not to read it too loudly or clearly. To accept that it is part of the text, but to use it in a way that makes us stop and think.
Shabbat Shalom.
[1] Genesis 35:22
[2] See Tosefta Megillah 3
[3] bSanhedrin 44a and Teshuvot Rashi 173
[4] bYoma 69b
[5] Genesis Rabbah 9:7